Congressional Reform

1. The Congress should be decentralized and do business in their own districts. This will put them back in touch with their constituents. The House and Senate can communicate via video conferencing.
   
2. No back-scratching (you vote for my bill and I'll vote for yours) should be allowed in The Congress.
   
3. Line item veto for the president or there should be a law to abolish riders. Lawmakers will not like this because it takes power away from them. The president may not like it because line item vetos put more responsibility on him or her. I say the states have this why not the federal gov't?
   
4. There should be a deficit fund where a percentage of the gov't revenue (say 10%) would go into first before any other expenses are used.
   
5. The lawmakers' salary should be docked every time the national debt exceeds the revenue.
   
6. Voting constituents should be allowed to sue a lawmaker if (s)he breaks his promises to them. I say voting constituents should be allowed to sue rather than a non-voting constituent because if you don't vote you are saying you don't care what lawmaker gets in and what he does. People might say this might increase frivolous lawsuits. Not necessarily. If a lawmaker makes a legally binding contract with his constituents and breaks that contract then (s)he should be held liable.
   
7. Accrual accounting should be used in calculating the gov't capital.
   
8. Voters should be allowed to vote on legislative pay raises.
   
9. No lobbying by foreign companies or foreign diplomats.